Think of the Blaser F16 Intuition as the classic power suit of women’s shotguns. Free of gimmicks and doo-dads, the Blaser F16 Intuition’s plain gun-metal gray receiver is accessorized by only a discreet logo. If you appreciate understated over/unders that exude confidence (and fit well), the Blaser F16 Intuition is your quality off-the-rack choice.
The horn blasts, I look to the sky of burnished blue and pheasants appear over the hillside trees. The birds glide high and fast toward us, riding prevailing winds with gusts like pheasant afterburners.
The volley of shotgun blasts marks another driven hunt as dropped birds get taken up by our eager dogs. I discovered that here at 8,000 feet shotgun shells hold their patterns longer and tighter than at sea level, giving rise to extraordinary wingshooting – although our party includes serious talent.
When a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer is “Yes the wolf hears it.” The wolf’s direct descendant, the dog, shares the wolf’s very sensitive hearing. According to the sparse research available, the dog’s hearing is four times more sensitive than man’s.
In early May 2018 I had the distinct pleasure of hunting Doves, Ducks and Perdiz at Los Laureles Lodge in Argentina’s Entre Rios Province along the Parana River. It’s an hour flight northwest of Buenos Aires and a lazy 75-minute drive from either the Santa Fe or Parana airport. The lodge, services, cuisine, and hunting proved superb.
Meet Augustus Fink-Nottle, known as Gus. He’s not the P.G. Wodehouse character from the novels. Instead, he’s the namesake Labrador Retriever from Florida who, in 2017 at age three, became the only American born, bred and trained gundog to win field trials in the U.K.
The Holy Grail of shotguns can mean many things. The driven bird shooter desires a break action with long barrels like a clays gun but stocked like a game gun. Dove shooters love their nimble sub-gauge auto loaders especially with the three round capacity. And of course the waterfowler needs the recoil taming and durability of a synthetic stocked cannon. In the Northern region our early bird seasons include a unique bird, the American woodcock. With their “here today, gone tomorrow” migrations, this article will discuss finding the perfect woodcock gun.
Some people in our sporting universe create beautiful shotguns. Others, like Paul Mihailides, make highly desirable shotguns while also building an all-encompassing upland nirvana in which to enjoy them.
There’s a difference between the gifted craftsmen who build gorgeous shotguns and the renaissance men like Mr. Mihailides, whose entrepreneurial vision shapes the future of our sport. Mr. Mihailides is the American owner of the Italian fine gun firm, Famars. He’s made a fortune in construction and used those resources to build the 3,500-acre residential sporting community and luxury event venue, The Preserve at Boulder Hills – replete with largest and longest underground automated gun range in America – in his home state of Rhode Island.
Not a year goes by that a well-known firearms manufacturer doesn’t come up with a new model that peaks the interest of shotgun enthusiasts worldwide. In late 2017 that manufacturer was Germany’s oldest gunmaker, J.P. Sauer and Sohn (now owned by Blaser), as the company introduced its first semi-automatic shotgun, the Sauer SL5.
Spanish gun makers established their reputations for quality and value by replicating England’s best guns for a fraction of the price. Now Retay Arms of Konya Turkey has taken a cue from Spain by manufacturing the Masai Mara semi-auto with an upgraded inertia-action adopted from Benelli shotguns, but retails for about half.
I set out quail hunting with David Lanier at Carr Farms in the plantation belt around his hometown of Albany, Georgia. He’s an affable guy with your average mid-50s paunch and a friendly clean-shaven face shaded by the brim of a blaze ball cap. The brush pants, frayed at the hems, bunched up at the buckled wingshooter boots scuffed and rough, his forest-green hunting shirt nicely ironed and the pouches of his vest swollen with gear (he always hunts with a camera).
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